GNOME Videos, formerly known as Totem, is a
media player (audio and video) for the
GNOME computer
desktop environment
In computing, a desktop environment (DE) is an implementation of the desktop metaphor made of a bundle of programs running on top of a computer operating system that share a common graphical user interface (GUI), sometimes described as a graphica ...
. GNOME Videos uses the
Clutter
Clutter and its derivations may refer to any of the following:
Excessive physical disorder
* Clutter, a confusing, or disorderly, state or collection, and possible symptom of compulsive hoarding
* Clutter (marketing), numerous advertisements, a ...
and
GTK+ toolkits. It is officially included in GNOME starting from version 2.10 (released in March 2005), but ''de facto'' it was already included in most GNOME environments. Totem utilizes the
GStreamer
GStreamer is a pipeline-based multimedia framework that links together a wide variety of media processing systems to complete complex workflows. For instance, GStreamer can be used to build a system that reads files in one format, processes the ...
framework for playback, though until version 2.27.1, it could alternatively be configured to use the
Xine
xine is a multimedia playback engine for Unix-like operating systems released under the GNU General Public License. xine is built around a shared library (xine-lib) that supports different frontend player applications. xine uses libraries ...
libraries instead of GStreamer.
GNOME Videos is
free and open-source software subject to the requirements of the
GPL-2.0-or-later license.
Features
Until recently there were two distinct versions of Totem, though the difference was not visible at the user interface level. One of them was based on
GStreamer
GStreamer is a pipeline-based multimedia framework that links together a wide variety of media processing systems to complete complex workflows. For instance, GStreamer can be used to build a system that reads files in one format, processes the ...
, which is a plugin-based multimedia framework. This version has superior extensibility and supports a larger variety of media formats. The other one was based on
xine
xine is a multimedia playback engine for Unix-like operating systems released under the GNU General Public License. xine is built around a shared library (xine-lib) that supports different frontend player applications. xine uses libraries ...
, which is a regular multimedia library. At the time the latter had better encrypted
DVD
The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...
playback support, DVD navigation support and could play some files the GStreamer version couldn't handle. Due to enhancements in GStreamer including the ability to play back encrypted DVDs, the Totem development team dropped support for the xine backend.
Totem is closely integrated with the
GNOME desktop environment and its file manager,
GNOME Files
GNOME Files, formerly and internally known as Nautilus, is the official file manager for the GNOME desktop. Nautilus was originally developed by Eazel with many luminaries from the tech world including Andy Hertzfeld (Apple), chief architect for ...
. This includes generating thumbnails of video files when browsing in
GNOME Files
GNOME Files, formerly and internally known as Nautilus, is the official file manager for the GNOME desktop. Nautilus was originally developed by Eazel with many luminaries from the tech world including Andy Hertzfeld (Apple), chief architect for ...
and a video plugin for Netscape-compatible browsers (e.g.
Firefox
Mozilla Firefox, or simply Firefox, is a free and open-source web browser developed by the Mozilla Foundation and its subsidiary, the Mozilla Corporation. It uses the Gecko rendering engine to display web pages, which implements current ...
and
GNOME Web
GNOME Web, called Epiphany until 2012 and still known by that code name, is a free and open-source web browser based on the GTK port of Apple's WebKit rendering engine, called WebKitGTK. It is developed by the GNOME project for Unix-like sy ...
).
Thanks to a large number of plugins developed for
GStreamer
GStreamer is a pipeline-based multimedia framework that links together a wide variety of media processing systems to complete complex workflows. For instance, GStreamer can be used to build a system that reads files in one format, processes the ...
, Totem is able to play all mainstream media formats, both open and proprietary ones. It also understands numerous playlist formats, including
SHOUTcast,
M3U
M3U (''MP3 URL'' or Moving Picture Experts Group Audio Layer 3 Uniform Resource Locator in full) is a computer file format for a multimedia playlist. One common use of the M3U file format is creating a single-entry playlist file pointing to a st ...
,
XML Shareable Playlist Format
XML Shareable Playlist Format (XSPF), pronounced ''spiff'', is an XML-based playlist format for digital media, sponsored by the Xiph.Org Foundation.
XSPF is a file format for sharing the kind of playlist that can be played on a personal comp ...
(XSPF),
SMIL,
Windows Media Player
Windows Media Player (WMP) is the first media player (application software), media player and media library application that was developed by Microsoft for playing sound reproduction, audio, video and viewing images on personal computers runnin ...
playlists and
RealAudio
RealAudio, or also spelled as Real Audio is a proprietary audio format developed by RealNetworks and first released in April 1995. It uses a variety of audio codecs, ranging from low-bitrate formats that can be used over dialup modems, to high-fi ...
playlists. Playlists are easily manageable using drag-and-drop features.
Full-screen video playback is supported on nearly all
X configurations, including multi-head
Xinerama setups, and on displays connected to the TV-Out. Brightness, contrast and saturation of the video can be dynamically adjusted during playback. 4.0, 4.1, 5.0, 5.1 and
stereophonic sound is supported. On computers with an infrared port, Totem can be remotely controlled via
LIRC
LIRC (Linux Infrared remote control) is an open source package that allows users to receive and send infrared signals with a Linux-based computer system.
There is a Microsoft Windows equivalent of LIRC called WinLIRC.
With LIRC and an IR rec ...
. Stills can be easily captured without resorting to external programs. There is also a plugin for
telestrator
A telestrator is a device that allows its operator to draw a freehand sketch over a moving or still video image. Also known as a video marker, this device is often used in sports and weather broadcasts to diagram and analyze sports plays or inco ...
-like functionality using ''Gromit''. The loading of external
SubRip subtitles, both automatic and manual (via the
command-line
A command-line interpreter or command-line processor uses a command-line interface (CLI) to receive commands from a user in the form of lines of text. This provides a means of setting parameters for the environment, invoking executables and pro ...
), is also supported.
The player was known as Totem. With the release of version 3.5.90, the name was changed to Videos. The name 'Totem', remained in 'de facto' use (the executable, for example, still uses the Totem name, as does its package in Debian).
GNOME 3.12 revamped the user interface radically and added support for direct playback from online video channels such as Guardian and Apple trailers.
Video acceleration
Whether GNOME Videos can offload computations for video decoding to
SIP blocks such as
PureVideo
PureVideo is Nvidia's hardware SIP core that performs video decoding. PureVideo is integrated into some of the Nvidia GPUs, and it supports hardware decoding of multiple video codec standards: MPEG-2, VC-1, H.264, HEVC, and AV1. PureVideo occu ...
,
UVD
Unified Video Decoder (UVD, previously called Universal Video Decoder) is the name given to AMD's dedicated video decoding ASIC. There are multiple versions implementing a multitude of video codecs, such as H.264 and VC-1.
UVD was introduced wit ...
,
QuickSync Video,
TI Ducati through
interfaces, like e.g.
VDPAU
Video Decode and Presentation API for Unix (VDPAU) is a royalty-free application programming interface (API) as well as its implementation as free and open-source library () distributed under the MIT License. VDPAU is also supported by Nvidia.
Th ...
,
VAAPI
Video Acceleration API (VA-API) is an open source application programming interface that allows applications such as VLC media player or GStreamer to use hardware video acceleration capabilities, usually provided by the graphics processing unit ...
,
Distributed Codec Engine or
DXVA DirectX Video Acceleration (DXVA) is a Microsoft API specification for the Microsoft Windows and Xbox 360 platforms that allows video decoding to be hardware-accelerated. The pipeline allows certain CPU-intensive operations such as iDCT, motio ...
depends entirely on the back-end. See
GStreamer
GStreamer is a pipeline-based multimedia framework that links together a wide variety of media processing systems to complete complex workflows. For instance, GStreamer can be used to build a system that reads files in one format, processes the ...
or
Xine
xine is a multimedia playback engine for Unix-like operating systems released under the GNU General Public License. xine is built around a shared library (xine-lib) that supports different frontend player applications. xine uses libraries ...
for such support.
See also
*
Parole Media Player - another media player based on
GStreamer
GStreamer is a pipeline-based multimedia framework that links together a wide variety of media processing systems to complete complex workflows. For instance, GStreamer can be used to build a system that reads files in one format, processes the ...
, it is light-weight and has similar user interface like the old GNOME Videos.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Totem (Media Player)
2003 software
Free audio software
Free media players
Free software programmed in C
Free software programmed in Vala
GNOME Core Applications
Linux media players
Software that uses Clutter (software)
Software that uses GStreamer
Software that uses Meson
Video player software that uses GTK